Faster light rail trains debut Monday

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VTA mechanic, Jeff Tsugawa, steps out of a new Commuter Express train at the Light Rail yard in San Jose on Sept. 29, 2010. Starting on Oct. 4, these new trains will run express light rail service between the Santa Teresa and Baypointe Light Rail stations. The yellow and blue colors will let riders know these are express trains. The new trains mark the first major change by light rail in two decades. (Gary Reyes /Mercury News)

The VTA rolls out new Commuter Express trains at the Light Rail yard in San Jose on Sept. 29, 2010. Starting on Oct. 4, these new trains will run express light rail service between the Santa Teresa and Baypointe Light Rail stations. The yellow and blue colors will let riders know these are express trains. The new trains mark the first major change by light rail in two decades. (Gary Reyes /Mercury News)

Faster light-rail trains will begin running Monday down the median of Highway 87 during commute times, shaving six to eight minutes off a trip between South San Jose and downtown.

As changes go, this may seem trivial. After all, it’s just a few minutes.

But symbolically, this is big. It’s the first major change to speeding up the valley’s slow trolley system since its inception 23 years ago, and it’s a preview of changes to come.

“Faster is faster,” said Mike Nguyen, a frequent rider, as he waited to catch a train earlier this week. “I’m not complaining.”

In addition, the express trains will provide Wi-Fi for the first time.

“Faster trains and reduced travel times are at the very top of (rider recommendations),” said spokeswoman Brandi Childress, “with free Wi-Fi service right behind it.”

Since its debut in 1987, the Valley Transportation Authority’s light-rail system has been dogged by one major complaint: It’s too slow.

Traveling the 12 miles from the Ohlone/Chynoweth station near the 85-87 interchange to Tasman Drive takes 22 minutes by car, but 43 minutes by train, according to the VTA. Express trains would reduce that to around 40 minutes — with 15 stops instead of the usual 21.

Over the next several years, times may further improve as the VTA begins express service along most of the 42-mile system that extends into Campbell, Mountain View and Milpitas.

By 2018, when BART connects with light rail in Milpitas, riders will be able “to get on an express train in Mountain View and step off at a BART station in Milpitas without transferring,” said Kevin Connolly, a VTA transportation planner.

The VTA says running more express trains along highways 85 and 87 and future changes on the line to Campbell will add 2,800 riders each weekday by 2018. Add in express service along Tasman Drive and Capitol Avenue, it says, and the increase swells to 7,400 trips a day.

Those are hefty increases. There were 31,643 trips on light rail each weekday in July.

The new trains will be easy to spot — cloaked in a bright blue and orange covering, with the word “Express” on the front, sides and rear. They’ll travel at speeds up to 55 mph as they run alongside Highway 87 without stopping.

Monday’s changes will add about $500,000 to the rail line’s annual $38 million operating budget and $2.5 million to $3.5 million when faster trains run throughout the entire system.

On hold for now is a wish list of major construction projects that could cost as much as $250 million over the next two decades to further speed up a trip: building overpasses at Montague Expressway and First Street, adding new traffic signals and doubling tracks to Campbell, Mountain View and Almaden.

The biggest hurdle will remain untouched — the crawl through downtown. Trains now travel at 10 mph, the slowest of almost any trolley line in the nation, thanks to sharp turns, stations close to each other, numerous traffic signals and a large number of pedestrians.

If there’s a complaint, it’s this: Some riders don’t like stopping the express trains at the Baypointe station on Tasman.

“There are a ton of more people to be picked up and dropped off beyond Baypointe,” said Stanley Peng, who works at Cisco. “A few minutes saved along 87 is wasted on transferring.”

But getting in and out of downtown during the commute could be noticeably improved. Transit officials think it could lure drivers crawling along Highway 87 onto a train.

Gary Richards has covered traffic and transportation in the Bay Area as Mr. Roadshow since 1992. Prior to that he was an assistant sports editor at the paper from 1984-1987. He started his journalism career as a sports editor in Iowa in 1975.

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